Evolution of the Town and its Maritime Trade
The earliest recorded maritime trade relating to Woodbridge is from 1350 but the lives of people in this area were entwined with the River Deben, its estuary and the sea from a much earlier date. For many centuries it was maritime trade which drove the expansion of the town.
This map shows the locations of all the Roman sites which have been discovered across south east Suffolk. Most were either farms or villas. A large amount of corn was grown in Suffolk and much of it was exported to Gaul from Colchester, or possibly Felixstowe.
Walton Castle, on a cliff by Felixstowe, was one of the forts built to defend the eastern and southern coasts against Saxon raids.
Within the present build-up part of Woodbridge and Melton (the area indicted by a dashed line) a coin hoard and traces of a farm have been found.
Location of the Roman sites is south east Suffolk.
The built-up part of Woodbridge and Melton
is indicated by the dashed line.
By 410 the Roman troops had withdrawn from Britain and the province was left to fend for itself. The Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes from north Germany then started to settle those areas of Britain that they had formerly raided. They came by the coastal route shown on this map. The journey would have taken 12 to 14 days.
The Romans had introduced Christianity during the fourth century but the new arrivals replaced it with Pagan worship, and Romano-British towns were abandoned in favour of smaller settlements. Some Britons fled to the far corners of the British Isles, while others remained, and integrated themselves with the new arrivals and adopted their language.
The coastal route taken by the
Angles, Saxons and Jutes.
By 600 the seven Kingdoms shown on the map to the left had been created. Christianity had just been reintroduced into Kent and would eventually spread to all the other Kingdoms.
The seven Anglo Saxon kingdoms which
which had been created by 600.
